Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [58]
“I understand, Commander. And Im certain that Captain Archer will as well. Ill check with him to verify that hes okay with you using the scrambler, but unless he tells me otherwise, your secret is safe with us. And if you ever need to talk, just know that Im here for you.
“Thank you, TPol said, stiffly allowing herself to submit to the somewhat awkward hug the younger woman offered. She felt guilty for misleading the ensign, but she knew it was necessary. And TPol felt confident that Archer would believe her excuse as well were he to confront her about the matter.
Just as she felt confident that Jonathan Archer would never suspect what she had really just requested of her old friend Denak.
ELEVEN
Day Thirty-three, Month of KriBrax The Hall of State, Dartha City, Romulus
“I HAVE BROUGHT THE V ULCAN SPY , Admiral, per your orders, Centurion Terix said, standing at attention in the open doorway to Admiral Valdores office. A pair of armed uhlan s, members of the Hall of States ceremonially dressed yet highly trained security contingent, stood vigilantly behind him. The uhlan s sidearm disruptors were conspicuously visible, as were their sheathed Honor Blades, and the guards dark eyes gleamed alertly from beneath their shiny silver helmets.
A somewhat shorter man, clad in a rumpled, deep-green detention jumpsuit, stood at the centurions side, his wrists tightly shackled together before him. The bruises that marred the prisoners face did nothing to dampen the fires of defiance that burned deep within his eyes.
Valdore looked the captured spy up and down for a long and silent moment. This is indeed a dangerous one, he thought without any irony. He will certainly bear close watching wherever he goes from now on.
Nodding a curt acknowledgment to Terix, Valdore rose from the chair behind his heavy sherawood desk. “You may remove his restraints, Centurion.
“Sir?
Valdore scowled. “Perhaps you pulled your helmet straps a bit too tightly around your ears this morning, Centurion. I said that the prisoners restraints will no longer be necessary. Remove them. Now .
A look of surprise briefly crossed Terixs usually hard and stoic features. “At once, Admiral. He turned and nodded to the nearer of the two uhlan s, who retrieved a small electronic key from his belt, stepped forward, then opened and took the restraints before resuming his previous position.
During the entire process the spy simply stared at Valdore, his expression now displaying a sort of defiant curiosity. The man stared in silence as he rubbed his wrists where the shackles had chafed them.
“What is your name? Valdore asked the prisoner.
“Cunaehr irRatleihfi trMandak, he answered slowly, pronouncing each syllable as though his tongue had grown swollen and heavy. “I have been Doctor Ehrehins assistant for the past twelve fvheisn .
Valdore nodded, not bothering to challenge the spys professed identity despite the fact that his own research the previous evening had already conclusively put the lie to it. Cunaehr, the longtime apprentice, assistant, and amanuensis of Doctor Ehrehin iRamnau trAvrak, died some three khaidoa ago on Unroth III during an ill-fated static test of an early prototype of the avaihh lli vastam, the still-elusive warp-seven stardrive. Therefore, Cunaehr was the only person in the entire vast expanse of Romulan Star Empire space that this spy could not be.
Who is he, really? Valdore wondered, as he had done for the past nine dierha . And how did the Vulcans manage to place one of their spies in such a sensitive position?
Valdore knew he couldnt discount the possibility that his own instincts had been compromised more than he had realized by his own recent political imprisonment following the drone-ship fiasco of the previous fvheisn . Or perhaps the spy had gained his initial foothold on Romulus during the several long khaidoa of Valdores incarceration.
But Valdore allowed all such questions to go unasked, at least for the moment. He knew that there was nothing to be gained by letting